Read the Bible in a Year

Each day, we'll post passages so that you can read the Bible in one year. This is part of The Colossians 13:16 Project, sponsored by Cove Presbyterian Church, 3404 Main Street, Weirton, West Virginia. You're invited to worship with us Sundays, at 11:00 a.m. or Saturdays, at 6:30 p.m. You may also want to consider joining one our adult Bible Studies: Thursdays at 12:00 noon and Sundays at 9:30 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. We also have a full range of programs for children. If you want more information about the church, check out the other blogs. And please feel free to leave any comments.

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Sunday, January 8, 2017

Bible Readings for January 8, 2017

Today our passages are
Genesis 18:20–19:38; Matthew 6:25–7:14; Psalm 8:1-9; and
Proverbs 2:6-15. The readings are the Contemporary English
Version. If you find these
readings helpful, please consider sending an offering directly to Cove
Presbyterian Church, 3404 Main Street, Weirton, West Virginia or through
PayPal by using the link below.

Genesis
18:20-19:38 (Contemporary English Version)

20The
LORD said, "Abraham, I have heard that the people of Sodom and Gomorrah are
doing all kinds of evil things. 21Now I
am going down to see for myself if those people really are that bad. If they
aren't, I want to know about it."
22The
men turned and started toward Sodom. But the LORD stayed with Abraham, 23who asked, "LORD, when you destroy the evil
people, are you also going to destroy those who are good? 24Wouldn't you spare the city if there are only fifty good
people in it? 25You surely wouldn't let
them be killed when you destroy the evil ones. You are the judge of all the
earth, and you do what is right."
26The
LORD replied, "If I find fifty good people in Sodom, I will save the city to
keep them from being killed."
27Abraham answered, "I am nothing more than the dust of the
earth. Please forgive me, LORD, for daring to speak to you like this. 28But suppose there are only forty-five good
people in Sodom. Would you still wipe out the whole city?"
"If I find forty-five good people," the LORD
replied, "I won't destroy the city."
29"Suppose there are just forty good people?" Abraham
asked.
"Even for them," the LORD replied, "I won't
destroy the city."
30Abraham said, "Please don't be angry, LORD, if I ask you
what you will do if there are only thirty good people in the city."
"If I find thirty," the LORD replied, "I still
won't destroy it."
31Then Abraham said, "I don't have any right to ask you,
LORD, but what would you do if you find only twenty?"
"Because of them, I won't destroy the city,"
was the LORD's answer.
32Finally, Abraham said, "Please don't get angry, LORD, if
I speak just once more. Suppose you find only ten good people there."
"For the sake of ten good people," the LORD
told him, "I still won't destroy the city."
33After speaking with Abraham, the LORD left, and Abraham
went back home.

Genesis 19

The Evil City of Sodom

1That evening the
two angels [a]
arrived in Sodom, while Lot was sitting near the city gate. [b] When
Lot saw them, he got up, bowed down low, 2and said, "Gentlemen, I am your servant. Please come to my
home. You can wash your feet, spend the night, and be on your way in the
morning." They told him, "No, we'll spend the night in the city square." 3But Lot kept insisting, until they finally
agreed and went home with him. He baked some bread, [c]
cooked a meal, and they ate. 4Before Lot
and his guests could go to bed, every man in Sodom, young and old, came and
stood outside his house 5and started
shouting, "Where are your visitors? Send them out, so we can have sex with
them!"
6Lot
went outside and shut the door behind him. 7Then he said, "Friends, please don't do such a terrible
thing! 8I have two daughters who have
never been married. I'll bring them out, and you can do what you want with them.
But don't harm these men. They are guests in my home."
9"Don't get in our way," the crowd answered. "You're an
outsider. What right do you have to order us around? We'll do worse things to
you than we're going to do to them."
The crowd kept arguing with Lot. Finally, they
rushed toward the door to break it down. 10But the two angels in the house reached out and pulled
Lot safely inside. 11Then they struck
everyone in the crowd blind, and none of them could even find the door.
12-13The two angels said to Lot, "The LORD has heard many
terrible things about the people of Sodom, and he has sent us here to destroy
the city. Take your family and leave. Take every relative you have in the city,
as well as the men your daughters are going to marry."
14Lot
went to the men who were engaged to his daughters and said, "Hurry and get out
of here! The LORD is going to destroy this city." But they thought he was
joking, and they laughed at him.
15Early the next morning the two angels tried to make Lot
hurry and leave. They said, "Take your wife and your two daughters and get out
of here as fast as you can! If you don't, every one of you will be killed when
the LORD destroys the city." 16At first,
Lot just stood there. But the LORD wanted to save him. So the angels took Lot,
his wife, and his two daughters by the hand and led them out of the city. 17When they were outside, one of the angels
said, "Run for your lives! Don't even look back. And don't stop in the valley.
Run to the hills, where you will be safe."
18-19Lot answered, "You have done us a great favor, sir.
You have saved our lives, but please don't make us go to the hills. That's too
far away. The city will be destroyed before we can get there, and we will be
killed when it happens. 20There's a town
near here. It's only a small place, but my family and I will be safe, if you let
us go there."
21"All right, go there," he answered. "I won't destroy that
town. 22Hurry! Run! I can't do anything
until you are safely there."
The town was later called Zoar [d]
because Lot had said it was small.

Sodom and Gomorrah Are
Destroyed

23The sun was coming up as Lot reached the town of Zoar,
24and the LORD sent burning sulfur down
like rain on Sodom and Gomorrah. 25He
destroyed those cities and everyone who lived in them, as well as their land and
the trees and grass that grew there.
26On
the way, Lot's wife looked back and was turned into a block of salt.
27That same morning Abraham got up and went to the place
where he had stood and spoken with the LORD. 28He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and saw smoke
rising from all over the land--it was like a flaming furnace.
29When God destroyed the cities of the valley where Lot
lived, he remembered his promise to Abraham and saved Lot from the terrible
destruction.

Moab and Ammon

30Lot was afraid
to stay on in Zoar. So he took his two daughters and moved to a cave in the hill
country. 31One day his older daughter
said to her sister, "Our father is old, and there are no men anywhere for us to
marry. 32Let's get our father drunk!
Then we can sleep with him and have children." 33That night they got their father drunk, and the older
daughter got in bed with him, but he was too drunk even to know she was there.
34The
next day the older daughter said to her sister, "I slept with my father last
night. We'll get him drunk again tonight, so you can go to bed with him, and we
can each have a child." 35That night
they got their father drunk, and this time the younger sister slept with him.
But once again he was too drunk even to know she was there.
36That's how Lot's two daughters had their children. 37The older daughter named her son Moab, [e] and
he is the ancestor of the Moabites. 38The younger daughter named her son Benammi, [f] and
he is the ancestor of the Ammonites.

Matthew
6:25-7:14 (Contemporary English Version)

Worry

(Luke 12.22-31)

25I tell you
not to worry about your life. Don't worry about having something to eat, drink,
or wear. Isn't life more than food or clothing? 26Look at the birds in the sky! They don't plant or
harvest. They don't even store grain in barns. Yet your Father in heaven takes
care of them. Aren't you worth more than birds?
27Can worry make you live longer? [a]28Why worry about clothes? Look how
the wild flowers grow. They don't work hard to make their clothes. 29But I tell you that Solomon with all his
wealth [b]
wasn't as well clothed as one of them. 30God gives such beauty to everything that grows in the
fields, even though it is here today and thrown into a fire tomorrow. He will
surely do even more for you! Why do you have such little faith? 31Don't worry and ask yourselves, "Will we
have anything to eat? Will we have anything to drink? Will we have any clothes
to wear?" 32Only people who don't know
God are always worrying about such things. Your Father in heaven knows that you
need all of these. 33But more than
anything else, put God's work first and do what he wants. Then the other things
will be yours as well.
34Don't worry about tomorrow. It will take care of itself.
You have enough to worry about today.

Matthew 7

Judging Others

(Luke 6.37,38,41,42)

1Don't condemn
others, and God won't condemn you. 2God will be as hard on you as you are on others! He will
treat you exactly as you treat them.
3You can see the speck in your friend's eye, but you don't
notice the log in your own eye. 4How
can you say, "My friend, let me take the speck out of your eye," when you don't
see the log in your own eye? 5You're
nothing but show-offs! First, take the log out of your own eye. Then you can see
how to take the speck out of your friend's eye.
6Don't give to dogs what belongs to God. They will only
turn and attack you. Don't throw pearls down in front of pigs. They will trample
all over them.

Ask, Search, Knock

(Luke 11.9-13)

7Ask, and you
will receive. Search, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened for
you. 8Everyone who asks will receive.
Everyone who searches will find. And the door will be opened for everyone who
knocks. 9Would any of you give your
hungry child a stone, if the child asked for some bread? 10Would you give your child a snake if the child asked for
a fish? 11As bad as you are, you still
know how to give good gifts to your children. But your heavenly Father is even
more ready to give good things to people who ask.
12Treat others as you want them to treat you. This is what
the Law and the Prophets [c]
are all about.

The Narrow Gate

(Luke 13.24)

13Go in through
the narrow gate. The gate to destruction is wide, and the road that leads there
is easy to follow. A lot of people go through that gate. 14But the gate to life is very narrow. The road that leads
there is so hard to follow that only a few people find it.

Psalm 8:1-9 (Contemporary
English Version)

Psalm 8

(A psalm by David for the music leader. (Psalm 8
leader: The Hebrew text adds " according to the gittith," which may refer
to either a musical instrument or a tune.) )

The Wonderful Name of the LORD

1Our LORD and
Ruler,
your name is wonderful
everywhere on earth!
You let your glory be seen [a] in
the heavens above.
2With praises from children
and from tiny infants,
you have built a fortress.
It makes your enemies silent,
and all who turn against you
are left speechless.
3I
often think of the heavens
your hands have made,
and of the moon and stars
you put in place.
4Then I ask, "Why do you care
about us humans?
Why are you concerned
for us weaklings?"
5You made us a little lower
than you yourself, [b]
and you have crowned us
with glory and honor.
6You let us rule everything
your hands have made.
And you put all of it
under our power--
7the sheep and the cattle,
and every wild animal,
8the birds in the sky,
the fish in the sea,
and all ocean creatures.
9Our LORD and Ruler,
your name is wonderful
everywhere on earth!

Proverbs 2:6-15 (Contemporary
English Version)

6All
wisdom comes from the LORD,
and so do common sense
and understanding.
7God gives helpful advice [a] to
everyone who obeys him
and protects all of those
who live as they should.
8God sees that justice is done,
and he watches over everyone
who is faithful to him.
9With wisdom you will learn
what is right
and honest and fair.
10Wisdom will control your mind,
and you will be pleased
with knowledge.
11Sound judgment and good sense
will watch over you.
12Wisdom will protect you
from evil schemes
and from those liars
13who turned from doing good
to live in the darkness.
14Most of all they enjoy
being mean and deceitful.
15They are dishonest themselves,
and all they do is crooked.

“If you really want to live, you must stop doing
wrong and start doing right. I, the LORD God All-Powerful, will then be on your
side, just as you claim I am. Choose good instead of evil! See that justice is
done. Maybe I, the LORD All-Powerful, will be kind to what's left of your
people.” - Amos 5:14-15

A semi-retired American trial lawyer, Gerry Spence wrote,
“Teach the child to respect that which is not respectable and you teach the
child the first requirement of slavery: submission to unjust
authority.”